Author: M G Kizzia

The Elect 2, The Full School Experience: part 1 of 4

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Lisa sat at her desk and frowned.

“Need a coffee?” Ashish asked, with a smile in his voice.

Lisa picked up a piece of paper and changed the subject. “Another missing person. A high school girl this time, and this one got reported before we found the body—not that I am suggesting there should be a body.”

“Things are looking up?” Ashish tried to sound positive, but it came out more like a question.ab donut box

“No. Someone saw the girl get into a van with several nondescript men two days ago. One of the men wore a white lab coat, but I think this is different from the mummified remains kidnappers. I don’t know. It just feels different.”

“Donut?” Ashish held out the box. Lisa flipped through and took one with jelly.

************************

The Elect, Freshman Year, chapter 2 is ready to post this week: today, T, W, and Th. Don’t miss it.

Emily is concerned with finding dead bodies on campus. Detective Lisa is more concerned with missing persons, which may become more dead bodies on campus. Both wonder why the victims are being drained of all liquid. Surely the fight in the frat house suggests the liquid is being used to juice up people… but who is behind it and to what end?

If you are starting late, you are welcome to click on the archives button and select November, 2015. The story begins with the first post in November and it should be easy enough to catch up.

The Elect 1, part 4 of 4: The Frat House

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Emily floated along with her mind on Pierce and said nothing about where they were headed until they reached fraternity row.

“For the third time, I need to meet Tom for lunch,” Jessica said.

“I wonder if Owen is around,” Maria added.

“What is going on?” Karyn was the only one who noticed. People shouted and started to scream outside the TKE House. The women arrived just in time to see a young man thrown out through the front window.

“They’re mad!” One of the Teeks shouted.ab TKE house

“Owen!” Maria saw him and ran to him, so the others followed. Owen ignored Maria and turned straight to Emily.

“You have to stop them. They want revenge on the fraternities that rejected them but they got into some bad juice. They don’t know what they are doing and are out of control. Please don’t hurt them.”

“Tom?” Jessica looked frantic. “Thomas!” She ran up to the front door. Emily had to sprint to catch her and Karyn stayed at Emily’s side. Owen grabbed Maria to prevent her from following.

Emily would have caught Jessica and stopped her but a man came spinning out the front door and got between them as he fell face down on the front stoop.

“Tom!” Jessica slithered in before the door shut.

The door locked. Karyn tugged on the handle before she stood back. Emily yanked it open and they heard the door lock snap in the process.

ab tke house 3The inside of the house looked in worse shape than Emily imagined. The big front room seemed full of splinters and dust. Only the couch and coffee table looked unbroken. Tom stretched out, face down on the floor by the broken front window. He appeared to be unconscious. Jessica got on her knees beside him and wailed, thinking he was dead. One frat boy leaned over a hole in the wall, also unconscious. Three young men stood, and Emily did not believe what she saw. They were Owen’s friends, his geek friends. Bob the mathematician, Craig the chemist and Jimmy Chee, top student in the Physics department surprised her. Bob had his hands to his head and kept screaming. Craig started punching holes in the section of the wall that still stood. Jimmy Chee shouted, unintelligibly.

Emily and Karyn did not know how to interpret what they saw. These were not the big brutes they expected. In fact, only Bob was taller, and maybe bigger than Emily, but not bigger than Karyn. Emily glanced again at Tom and recognized that Tom was a big man, a football player, and these three little squirts knocked him into La-La land. She knew she better be careful.

“I want to kill someone. I want to bust something,” Jimmy Chee shouted.

None of the three looked like their eyes could focus, but Emily was not surprised when they turned and attacked. Karyn faced Jimmy Chee and Emily said a little prayer for Karyn while she faced the other two.

Craig reached her first. His arms stretched out to grab her in a way that made him look something like the Frankenstein monster. Emily leapt to the side, further away from Bob and she caught Craig’s outstretched arm. The boy moved with amazing speed and strength. She barely managed to get there ahead of his response. But with his arm in hand, she shoved and that put his back to her and turned ab tke house 2him in Bob’s direction. She kicked Craig’s butt as hard as she could and Craig flew across the room and smashed into Bob. That took them both to the ground and gave Emily a second to check on Karyn.

Karyn punched and backed up. Her punches landed, but they had little effect on Jimmy Chee’s face. He grinned, stalked her and waited for her to put her back to the wall. Emily let loose with a punch of her own, right at Jimmy Chee’s kidneys. The boy felt that one and collapsed to his knees. Then Emily ducked to her own knees as she sensed Bob’s fist. It barely passed over her head. Her fist did not miss the boy’s crotch. Bob felt that one, too, as Emily stood to back up.

Two arms circled around her and squeezed. For a second, Emily thought her ribs might crack. Bob made a grab at her leg, but she kicked out and landed her foot on his face. He got knocked back into Jimmy Chee and that gave her, or at least Karyn another temporary reprieve. Karyn picked up a piece of wallboard and clocked both boys on the head while Emily grabbed Craig’s thumbs and slammed her head back into the boy’s forehead. He did not let go, but his arms loosened enough for her to break free.

ab tke house 1Emily let go of Craig’s right thumb but held fast to his left and with her right hand, she twisted that arm as she turned to face the boy, which put her whole weight into that twist. Craig’s elbow went in and up and he hit himself in his own chin with that elbow. They heard the pop as his arm separated from his shoulder. Craig collapsed when Jessica hit the boy over the head from behind. She had picked up a lamp.

Emily felt a fist in her shoulder blade and rolled away from the door, an unexpected direction. Her shoulder, not broken, got badly bruised. She jumped to her feet again, and in time to see Karyn tossed into the kitchen through the hole in the wall. Bob and Jimmy Chee rushed to cut her off from the door. Emily saw the opening as the boys stopped and turned to face her. She dove between them and landed on the couch. Both boys turned again to face her and both cracked their shins into the coffee table. They did not appear to be bothered by that, though it sounded nasty.

Emily stood as both boys jumped to the top of the coffee table to get at her. Jimmy Chee tried to punch her. He was incredibly fast. Emily tilted her head back and missed the impact, but the boy wore a ring and it cut her cheek. It made her mad and she reached down and lifted the coffee table, four hundred pounds worth of table and two boys. She tilted it on its side, which made both boys jump off to safety. Then she slammed her hand into one of the table legs until it broke off.

Jimmy Chee, right there, tried another punch, but Emily expected it so he missed completely. Emily counterpunched with the table leg. She caught the boy squarely in the side of the head. She saw the boy’s eyes roll up as he collapsed, and she thought, just like her old softball bat.ab tke arms on fire 2

She turned to Bob, expecting another punch, but Bob screamed again and this time he had a reason. He held out his hands. Both of his arms were on fire. Karyn staggered out of the kitchen with the fire extinguisher. She managed to douse the flames, but the boy was not going to hurt anyone else, ever. The police came at last, and Maria also came in and dragged Owen behind her.

Emily stood there, unmoving, the table leg over her shoulder, her cheek bleeding, her shoulder blade hurting. She did not flinch when a police officer put a gun to her face. Jimmy Chee at her feet was moaning and being fitted for handcuffs. Craig did not get cuffed. He needed his right arm to keep his left arm from falling completely off. Bob also did not get his burnt stubs cuffed. He just cried. By the time Emily looked back at the police officer, one clearly frightened by all the mayhem around him, Millsaps had arrived.

“Millsaps,” she called.

“She’s one of ours, Parker,” Millsaps said, and the relieved officer holstered his weapon. Emily took one step to where Jessica and Maria helped Tom to his feet. Owen watched. She wanted a word with Owen.

“They got into some bad juice? What juice?”

ac owen 1“Beer.” Owen spoke quickly and shuffled back a bit. “I only had one, but they had too much, and the last bottles, they had something wrong with them. It drove them crazy.”

“Do you have any left? Do you still have the bottles?”

Owen shook his head. “Are you kidding? I didn’t want to get busted for beer in the room.”

Emily frowned. She knew a student who had a whole empty beer bottle collection in his room, but she did not push that point. She took another step forward and watched Owen shuffle back a little. “Where are the bottles now?”

“Trashed. Picked up I think. I got them into the bin just before the truck came.”

How convenient, Emily thought, but she did not pursue it right then. She took a step back and found Lisa with a damp cloth there to mother her cheek. “Ashish,” Emily called and whispered when Ashish stepped to her and she had the man’s attention. “Ask Julie to check these for heightened endocrine activity, adrenaline and I don’t know what else. And see if they have beer in their system.”

“There.” Lisa backed away and turned to Ashish with a great big smile. “See? It isn’t just me.” She turned back to Emily but looked directly at Owen who stood with his arm around Maria, surveying the devastation. “And your thoughts?”ac lisa 8

“Probably honest enough but worth watching.”

“He may have just escaped being a victim himself you know, if he had one more beer.”

Emily looked at Lisa. She had not considered that. She knew then that accusations need evidence and vowed to get some.

************************

Be sure and return next Monday (T, W, and Th) for the second episode in the season. If you miss a post, you can always find it on the side of the blog under the heading “recent posts”. In fact, you can wait until Thursday (F, Sat, or Sun) if you like, and select one post at a time from the recent posts to read all 4 posts of the episode in one sitting. It is up to you.

If you are starting late, you can always click on the archives button and select November 2015. There, you can begin with the pilot episode and work forward to the present post. I will try hard not to post anything else until the story is finished, several months down the road.

After the Pilot Episode, all 22 of the regular episodes (chapters in this serialized novel) will be posted in 4 posts (M, T, W and Th) over a single week. Again, you are welcome to wait until Thursday (F, Sat, or Sun) if you want to read the entire episode (all 4 posts) in one sitting.

Thus far, Emily has been told she is an elect and show some signs of unnatural abilities, but she is not exactly sure what being an elect means. She has to puzzle out what she can. She may not have much time. She and her friends have already found one body, and Detective Lisa has assured them that there have been others. Someone is killing co-eds, and in a most unusual way—draining them of every ounce of liquid. Now, after the fight at the frat house, it appears as if that liquid may have been refined for some more nefarious purpose. But the evidence without a motive is circumstantial. Where is all of this experimentation going?

The Elect 1, part 3 of 4: Obstacles and Opportunities

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Monday morning, the ROTC schedule took Emily to the obstacle course. Captain Driver said he wanted to get times recorded that he could compare with the end of the year when the students will hopefully be in better shape and improved on the course. Karyn got very nervous, but Carl took her out there illegally on Sunday afternoon and let her practice. Something seemed to be budding between those two, Emily thought and smiled.

In contrast to Karyn and the boys, Emily relaxed. The course consisted of running through old tires, climbing up and down nets and walls, swinging on ropes over the cliché mud pit. It tested things like coordination, agility and dexterity, not just speed and strength. In all, it did not appear too daunting.

“Course record?” Lieutenant Terrence snuck up to her and whispered.ab obstacle course 1

Emily turned and looked up at the man. “Not this time. I have to hold back so I can show improvement at the end of the year.” She walked away quickly to get in line for her turn.

They went three at a time. Karyn finished last in her group but that landed her among the middle time slots. Emily felt surprisingly pushed, but held back at the end to come in second. Unfortunately, it also put her time second in the class. When Captain Driver came up to stare at her, Emily spoke first.

“Quality competition can sometimes help a person do their best.” Clearly, the captain put her in between two ringers—the two who tested at the top while she stayed busy the other day holding the flag. The captain’s facial expression changed from harsh to thoughtful as she spoke. He nodded and turned away without a word.

Lieutenant Terrence slid up and whispered again. “Second in the class? I thought you were going to hold back.”

“I did,” Emily said and let him think about it while she grabbed Karyn to go to the showers.

Karyn and Emily arrived back at the dorm to find Maria and Jessica waiting, Jessica staring at her watch. “I have to meet Thomas for lunch,” she said, though they still had a good hour before lunch.

Maria ignored her. She seemed excited and held up her papers. “I talked to Julie Tam at the medical examiner’s office. I said I was helping you and she faxed over this information. I said I had in mind to pass it by the professors here and see what they thought. She called that an excellent idea.”

a science 2“Which professors?” Karyn asked. Emily got busy thinking about it. She kept trying to listen to her intuition like Lisa said and something said one of these professors might be involved. In fact, she felt rather sure of it, but that did not feel like the time to make wild accusations.

“Why, biology, of course. I made an appointment with Doctor Zimmer, my advisor. Emily, you can talk to Swenson and we can both corner Hilde in class. Come on.” She started to walk. Jessica followed, but Karyn looked at Emily.

“I don’t—” Emily started to speak but Maria interrupted by shouting back.

“Come on. Zimmer’s appointment is in five minutes and late means no appointment with the turd. Besides, Pierce will be there.”

Emily bit her lip while she and Karyn followed.

Once up on the second floor, Emily began to have second thoughts but she could hardly pursue them before they ran into Morgan Granger. The woman came out of Professor Hilde’s office and blocked their way for a moment.

“Maria,” Ms Granger acknowledged her good student before she turned to Emily. “Help class is over.”

“ROTC,” Emily said, quietly.

“Yes. Well, we all have to make choices. It is a shame we can’t do everything we want in college.” Ms Granger shoved passed to get to the stairs. Maria spoke when the stairwell door closed.

“I bet she deliberately scheduled the help time when she knew you were busy.”a science hall 3

“Stop, you’ll make me paranoid,” Emily said as she stuck her head in Professor Swenson’s open door and said, “Hi.”

Professor Swenson had her eyes absorbed in a paper on her desk. A man in a uniform sat in the corner. Emily guessed army, but she did not catch the rank in the darkened room. Professor Swenson’s hand came up and waved, though her eyes never left the paper. When the group moved on to knock on Doctor Zimmer’s door, they heard Professor Swenson’s door shut tight.

“What?” The word from the other side of the door sounded sharp. Maria opened the door a crack and spoke.

“Doctor Zimmer? Maria Rios. We have an appointment.”

As Maria opened the door wide, they saw Doctor Zimmer at his desk look at his watch, the clock on the wall, and finally his calendar. “This has to be quick, I have another appointment shortly.”

“I was wondering if you would give these papers a look and offer your opinion.”

“Papers? Why do you think I have a teaching assistant?” He threw his hands at the corner where Pierce had been reading. Pierce put down his book when they came in and stared at Emily. Emily tried to ignore the stare, and tried extra hard not to stare back.

“These are from the medical examiner. There have been three people murdered on campus in a most unusual way.”

ab zimmers office 2Doctor Zimmer grabbed the papers and quickly perused them. “Interesting,” he said. He looked up sharply. “Am I a suspect?”

“No, sir,” Emily spoke because Pierce’s stare made her think all sorts of wrong thoughts. “You are an expert and we value your expert opinion.”

“Because I gave up my medical practice years ago.” Doctor Zimmer finished his thought. “Everyone I treated died.” That was his attempt at humor. He cleared his throat and looked again at the papers before he handed them back to Maria. “Tell your Examiner to check the endocrine system. Blood isn’t good for much except for transfusions and maybe vampires.” He smiled. It looked unnatural, a Morgan Granger frightening kind of smile. “Waste liquid is good for less unless someone is trying to build a better fertilizer. Tell him to check the glands, particularly the hypothalamus, thyroid and adrenal glands. A person might be interested in those hormones and secretions. Someone might be working on a cure for cancer for all we know.” He shrugged.

“Heavy price to pay,” Emily responded.

“Perhaps,” Doctor Zimmer sounded noncommittal. “In any case, not my field. I am strictly genetics and bioengineering these days. Professor Swenson teaches anatomy and could better tell you about the endocrine system, and Professor Hilde is the biochemist. They are the ones you should be talking to. Now please leave. My appointment should be here any minute.”

The girls turned. Jessica had her mouth open at the rudeness of the man. They went to the hall and shut the door behind them even as the army officer exited Professor Swenson’s room. The Colonel, and he gave the girls a friendly salute. Karyn looked inclined to snap to attention, but she was not in uniform. Besides, the Colonel’s eyes stayed on Jessica who had squeezed into her shortest and best hooker outfit, and was busting out all over.ac pierce 2

They whispered and walked slowly toward the exit. Emily dragged her feet to watch and to no surprise, the Colonel knocked on Doctor Zimmer’s door. “Come in.” She heard Pierce’s voice and stopped when Pierce came out to the hall and ran after her.

“Emily.” She was the one he came after and her heart jumped once or twice. “I was wondering if maybe we could go for coffee or something, sometime.”

She wanted to shout, “Yes!” But for some reason, her mouth betrayed her. “I don’t really drink coffee.” Pierce pulled back and she felt it. “But I love tea and anytime would be fine.” She felt him come back a little. “I would enjoy that.” He returned all the way and his smile showed it.

“Saturday night at the Hive.” Jessica stood over Emily’s shoulder. “We are all going and Emily needs a date.”

“Jessica!” Karyn and Maria pulled her back to the stairs.

“Would you let me be your date on Saturday?” The hope was there again.

“Yes.” The yes came, but it came out as a whisper, not the shout Emily felt.

Jessica broke free and butted in again. She handed Pierce a small piece of paper. “Her phone number.”

ac emily 2“I have to go,” Emily said and wanted to turn but again her feet would not work.

“Me, too.” Pierce started down the hall, but he walked backwards to Zimmer’s door. “I’ll call you.” He grinned and waved the paper before he went into the office. Emily felt sure she was grinning too and was not surprised when Karyn and Maria each took an arm and turned her around toward the stairs.

“You were staring,” Maria said.

“Staring?” Jessica disagreed. “She was drooling.”

The Elect 1, part 2 of 4: Puzzle Pieces

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Everyone gathered in the Amazon lounge Saturday morning to discuss what needed to be done. Three horrific murders were not things that made anyone comfortable.

“But shouldn’t we call the police?” Tom, not the swiftest member of the football team, immediately asked when he got told.

Amina came in and that surprised Emily even if Maria did not appear surprised. After the introductions and noting that Amina’s room was on the third floor, Amina spoke up.a dorm lounge 4

“So there have been seven murders.” Amina shivered, like she felt each one personally.

“Three,” Jessica corrected.

“The Sybil says seven. I don’t think the police have found them all yet.” Maria bought into everything. Emily felt it prudent to take hold of the conversation.

“The police only know of three, except they have no suspects because they can’t figure out what is killing these girls. They have asked us to keep our eyes and ears open.” Emily assumed the victims were girls but she had neglected to ask. It was possible one or more of the victims were boys.

“Not us,” Jessica spoke up loudly. “You. The police asked you to watch. You asked us to help.”

“Makes sense,” Tom said. When Jessica looked at him oddly, he explained. “I saw what she did to those two men that attacked you. If there is trouble, Wonder Woman is the one I would call.”

“Did I tell you about how she held that flag?” Karyn interrupted.

“Yes,” several people responded.

“But what makes them think it is something on campus?” Owen asked.

`“You’re my Wonder Woman,” Tom said completely off topic.

a dorm lounge 5“That’s better,” Jessica responded and the two of them got lost for a time. Everyone else ignored them.

“On campus makes sense,” Maria started to answer Owen’s question but Owen interrupted again.

“No. It could be someone in town. The campus might just provide an easy group of young women for whatever it is they are doing.”

“They?” Emily asked.

“He, she or it.” Owen responded with a shrug and a look at Maria.

“And what makes you think “they” are doing anything beyond murder?”

“Now that makes sense,” Maria said. “There are several body openings through which fluids might be extracted, the mouth being the most obvious. But whoever is doing it must have a reason for doing it even if it is just for lunch the way Detective Mousad suggested.”

Emily had told them that much. She did not tell them Detective Schromer, that is, Lisa’s response. If it was something like that, she would have been contacted. Emily still had to think about that one.

“Yes, they have to be doing something with the liquid. There must be a reason for it,” Owen agreed with Maria, but sounded hesitant.

Emily nodded. “That is what I felt and so did Lisa.” She would have to say that name a bunch of times to get comfortable saying it. “As for the town thing. No. I am certain it is a campus activity.”a dorm lounge 1

Amina spoke up. “I feel strongly that it must be connected to the university.”

“How can you be so certain?” Owen did not give up.

“I feel it in my gut.” Emily had not told any of the others about being elect or what that might mean. She was not sure what it meant, except the image of Wonder Woman did not sit well in her mind. She knew it meant she ought to follow her intuition, and that kept telling her this was undoubtedly an on campus situation.

“Guts don’t hold up in court,” Karyn pointed out.

“So we need to find out who is killing these students and get the evidence that will hold up in court,” Emily responded. “I appreciate your help, only don’t take any chances. If you find something suspicious, call me. And don’t say anything about this to anyone outside of this room, Jessica.”

“What?” Jessica broke herself away from Tom at the sound of her name. Emily sighed and repeated herself.

###

Sunday noon, the police got a missing person call and Ashish Mousad got rudely taken from his NFL ab nursing home 2Sunday. Lisa picked him up and dragged him down to the nursing home where they endured an hour of nursing assistants giving explanations and excuses.

“Missus Cox was in bed, and then she was gone. I know it sounds impossible, but at one hundred and seven years old there is no way she could have gone anywhere on her own, even if she was ambulatory, which she isn’t.”

“I don’t see any sign of forced entry at the window,” Ashish reported.

“So someone had to come in the front door in the night and take her out without anyone noticing,” Lisa suggested.

“Impossible,” the nurse said, and she explained for the umpteenth time why that would be impossible.

Ashish complained when they got back to the car and out of earshot. “Did we really have to come here for a simple missing person? I know how night crews work in these places. The old woman’s family could have come in with a marching band and taken her out without anyone noticing.”ab nursing home 3

“You know full well for a city this size there are far too many missing persons. We are off the charts, even counting those that turn up dead which is itself an unbelievably high number,” Lisa said. “Anyway, this one is connected. Not directly.” The woman was old, extremely old, and thus far, all of the other victims were young and strong. “It is connected somehow to the university, to something happening there. I know it.”

Ashish surrendered. “I know what it means when you say that. In the long run you are always right.” Ashish pulled out his handkerchief for a good blow. “And here I thought when we became partners it would be my big nose sniffing out my suspicions, not yours.”

“I like your nose,” Lisa said as they left the nursing home behind. “Only what could they hope to get out of a hundred and seven year old woman?”

The Elect 1: Head and Hands, part 1 of 4

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Emily waited at the door for Karyn. She did not see any of the others, or many people in the dining hall that morning. She supposed it was early for a Saturday. She knew Maria went in search of Owen, and Jessica thought she might get an hour of Tom’s attention before he had to gather with the football team. Emily only ran into Karyn by accident. Karyn lived in the other freshman dorm, second floor, and a cafeteria 2normally ate in the other dining hall, but that hall was not open for breakfast on the weekends.

“You were saying? About your dream,” Karyn prompted.

“It was strange.” They began to walk back to Emily’s dorm. “Everyone but me kept finding bodies. Jessica found a couple. Maria found one.”

“Was I in your dream?”

“No, but Amina, a Moroccan girl I met once, just last night, found several bodies. I got frustrated. I wanted to find a body. It was like they were all passing the course and I was in danger of flunking out. You know what I mean?”

a dorm bodyKaryn nodded. “You’re right. It was a weird dream.”

Emily opened the door to her dorm.

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Emily has learned that as an elect, she is an extraordinarily gifted woman. Detective Lisa, another elect, made that much clear, even if she did not explain exactly what it meant. Emily will have to figure it out on the go. Thus far, she and her friends at the university have found one body. The police know of three. There may well be more. Someone or something is draining coeds and leaving mummified husks of human beings behind.

The Elect, Freshman Year, is a serialized novel, to use the classic term, but neatly divided into “episodes” like a television show. It is jam packed and fast paced. The emphasis is on characters, intrigue and mystery. As a reader, all you really need to remember are the three elect, Emily, Detective Lisa, and the local girl, Latasha. Everyone else is either family (mom, dad, brother), friends, co-workers (detective, police officer, teacher) or antagonist of some sort. Oh, and then there is Heinrich…

The pilot episode got posted over the first two weeks in November 2015. If you missed it, you can click on the archives button. Select November 2015, and it will start you at the beginning of the series. After the beginning, each of the 22 episodes (chapters) are being posted weekly (M, T, W and Th) over 22 weeks. If you wait until Thursday (F, Sat, or Sun) in a given week, you will find all posts for that episode on the right side of the blog under “recent posts”. Some might want wait to click and read the whole episode at once. That is fine. Happy reading. I hope you enjoy reading the work as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

The Elect, the beginning, post 8 of 8: Eyes and Ears

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After the initial shock, Emily found a broom and used it to turn the body to its back. It was a woman, but they could not tell how old. It appeared shriveled and mummified, a dehydrated corpse, like it lost all of its moisture.

“Gross,” Maria said. Jessica could not look at all, but she called 9-1-1 on her cell and then thought to call the campus police. Emily decided to get her things in the dryer before the police came and cordoned off the whole room with yellow tape. Maria forced open the back basement door and found a brick to prop it so it stayed open. No discernible smell came from the corpse—no smell at all in that room apart from one too many dryer sheets.

After a moment, Emily remembered to call Detective Schromer. She left a mesac bernie 2sage in the woman’s voicemail and then they waited, but not for long. Bernie the campus cop arrived, took one look, and had to run back out for some fresh air. The girls imagined he got sick, but tried not to think too hard about that image. The mummy was bad enough. When Bernie returned, just before the police arrived, he looked straight at Emily.

“What is it about you?” he asked. Emily could only shrug.

When the police came, the girls got hustled outside while the police roped off the area with plenty of yellow tape, just as Emily surmised.

“Hey, my clothes,” Jessica complained, but it seemed a feeble complaint.

Some Asian looking woman arrived. The girls guessed she might be a police woman since they let her straight in, but detectives Schromer and Mousad arrived a moment later and corrected their thinking. “Doctor Julie Tam, Medical Examiner,” Detective Schromer explained.

“That is what I really want to do,” Maria admitted and craned her neck to try to peek inside.ac police tape

“Gross,” Jessica said and Detective Mousad looked like he agreed.

“Can we talk?” Detective Schromer asked Emily. Emily shrugged and stepped aside with the detective. “You must tell me what you found out.”

“What?” Emily was not sure what the detective was asking. She thought about holding a flag for a long time. She considered the meditative trance that required. She thought about Pierce and the professors Swenson, Zimmer and Hilde. She thought she was not doing well in biology. “Nothing.”

Detective Schromer closed her eyes and considered. “I need you to be my eyes and ears on campus,” she said. “There is something serious going on and I need to find out and stop it before it goes any further.”

ac emily 5“Me?”

“You are the elect.” Detective Schromer stopped short of saying it was Emily’s job. She said instead, “I trust you.”

“But, what is going on? What are we talking about?” Emily asked, and thought that she was only a freshman. Everything seemed new, odd and strange to her. How would she know if something might be unusual or out of place?

“Excuse me.” Julie Tam walked up. She gathered Detective Mousad and sought to take Detective Schromer aside for a private talk. Detective Schromer did not move. She pointed at Emily.

“Emily is under cover. My eyes and ears on campus. We need to fill her in on what information we have so she knows what to look for.”

The medical examiner looked at Emily like this might not be normal procedure, but she spoke. “Like the other ones. About twenty. We can assume a student. Completely drained of liquid with no discernible point of entry. Mummified, but probably no more than a day dead.  I’ll know more when I get her back to the lab.”

Two men came out with the corpse in a bag. They set it on the stretcher they had set up on the walkway and wheeled it to the ambulance.ab trenton ambulance

“The others?” Emily asked right away. She had not missed the word.

“Our third since the semester started.”  Detective Mousad spoke right up. “We don’t know why the bodies are being drained. We do not know how they are being drained, but the important thing is we do not know for what purpose.” He shivered.

“Ashish thinks it is a mythical monster having lunch.” Detective Schromer smiled.

“That is as good a theory as any for all we know,” the medical examiner said as she started back to her car.

“You don’t mean…” Emily hardly knew what to ask or say.

“No,” Detective Schromer responded flatly, suggesting it was ridiculous to think such a thing, but when she looked at Emily, she appeared to change her mind. “Not in this case. I would have been contacted.”

ac girl n1Emily gulped.

“Just keep your eyes open and don’t be afraid to trust your instincts. There is power in a woman’s intuition, even in one who is not elect. For you, your intuition should be magnified many times over in the face of danger,”

Emily nodded and several pictures flashed through her mind. She thought of Morgan Granger, Doctor Zimmer, Captain Driver and Terrence Williams, but she dismissed those thoughts. They were people she did not like, but that just meant they were jerks, not nefarious. “I’ll look around.”

“You be careful,” Detective Mousad said kindly, and Emily nodded.

“Just two questions,” she said before the detectives could leave. “One, can I ask my friends for help in case they notice something suspicious I can check out?”

“What are we talking about?” Detective Schromer needed specifics.

“Maria and Jessica, Tom and Owen go with them, and probably Karyn in ROTC.” She thought of Pierce but shook her head. “That’s it.”

“Can they keep their tongues from wagging?”ac lisa 1

That leaves Jessica out, Emily thought, but she said otherwise. “Yes.” The detective nodded. They began to turn away.

“Oh, and Detective Schromer.” They paused again. “Second, could you tell your people that we would like to finish doing our laundry and get back to our rooms some time tonight?”

The detective nodded and spoke around Emily’s shoulder. “Millsaps. They have laundry to finish. Let them.” She did not make it a suggestion and the police officer nodded with a “yes,” and a sloppy salute. Detective Schromer turned again to Emily. “And it is Lisa, not Detective Schromer. I am like your sister, not your mother.”

Emily smiled. She felt good about that even if she could not quite mouth the word, “Lisa.” She turned to her friends as the detectives walked off.

ac jessica 2“Well?” Jessica needed to know.

“When we get back upstairs,” Emily said with one last glance at the detectives. “Too many ears here.”

“Oh goody.” Maria grinned and rubbed her hands. “I like a mystery.”

************************

Be sure and return next Monday (T, W, and Th) for the first chapter/episode in the novel/ season. If you miss a post, you can always find it on the side of the blog under the heading “recent posts”. In fact, you can wait until Thursday (F, Sat, or Sun) if you like, and select one post at a time from the recent posts to read all 4 posts in one sitting. It is up to you.

If you are starting late, you can always click on the archives button and select November 2015. You will find the beginning episode and you can work forward from there to the present post.

After the beginning episode, all 22 of the regular episodes (chapters in this serialized novel) will be posted in 4 posts (M, T, W and Th) over a single week. Again, you are welcome to wait until Thursday (F, Sat, or Sun) if you want to read the entire chapter/episode (all 4 posts) in one sitting.

Thus far, Emily has been told she is an elect and show some signs of unnatural abilities, but she is not exactly sure what being an elect means. She has to puzzle out what she can. She may not have much time. She and her friends have already found one body, and Detective Lisa has assured them that there have been others. Someone is killing co-eds, and in a most unusual way….

The Elect, the beginning, post 7 of 8: Deep Laundry

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

By nine-thirty, well after the Amazon women went elsewhere, Emily found herself in Maria’s room with nothing but popcorn and a bad movie to keep her company. “The full college experience,” she said.

“Ugh,” Maria responded. She took out her cell phone and checked it once more. “I had hope that Owen would call, but no. He’s probably out with the guys doing guy things.”

“Honestly?” Emily looked at her. “He is probably sitting in his room with one or two other guys watching the same stupid movie, eating the same stupid popcorn and wondering why he did not call you, or why you did not call him.”a dorm room 1

“Probably.” Maria bounced off the bed and began to go through her clothes. She responded to Emily’s look with one word. “Laundry.”

Emily pushed her hand through her hair and stood. “Might as well. I am just going to sleep sitting here, not that sleep would be a bad option. Catch you in a minute. You got dryer sheets?” Maria lifted them. Emily nodded and went to fetch her own clothes.

They did not get far before Jessica came bouncing in. Gloria, of course, went out with some guy, dancing, and did not expect to be home early. As far as Maria could tell, Gloria had not done a stitch of work so far that semester, so Maria looked forward to having a single room in the spring. Jessica had gone out with Tom the football player, but he had a curfew before the Saturday game.

“Coach Rayford is a slave driver,” she said as she came in and decided that she might as well do her laundry, too.

“How was your date?” Maria asked. Emily already knew better because Jessica went on for a while in every gory detail. Apparently, he had his hands all over her. He said it would charge him up for the game. The fact that as a sophomore, he would sit on the bench for most if not all of the game did not appear to matter. The fact that Jessica did not mind did not matter either. The fact that Emily, and Emily assumed Maria did not want to hear about every detail did not seem to matter either.

“I’ve not been down here to the laundry basement before,” Jessica admitted.

a dorm laundry“Little rich girl,” Emily explained to Maria. “She takes up three quarters of the closet and complains there isn’t enough room for her stuff.”

Maria shrugged, ran a hand through her hair, and grinned in Emily’s direction. It was Emily’s affectation, and sure enough, Emily unconsciously copied the motion. To no one’s surprise, Emily’s hair was still short.

“So have you met anyone?” Jessica turned to Emily. While Emily felt glad to change the subject from Jessica’s escapades, this was not her first choice for a replacement topic. She felt a slight reddening in her cheeks when she thought of Pierce. “You have?” Maria missed it, but Jessica did not.

“Not anyone who would notice me,” she said.

“Who is it?” Jessica did not know when to let it go. Emily shook her head. She had no intention of saying any more, but Maria added her voice.

“Yeah, who is it?” Maria grinned in a way that suggested she knew full well that Emily felt uncomfortable.

Emily turned to her and gave her a whole second of her meanest stare. Then she spoke. “Let’s just say he pierced my heart. God! That sounds so stupid.” She knew it the minute it slipped out of her mouth.ac pierce 1

Maria had to think before she got it. “Oh my God!” She said that first before the reality caught up with her. “Good luck with that one.”

“What? Who?” Jessica had no idea.

“I said no one who would notice me.”

“Tell you later,” Maria put off Jessica. Jessica harrumphed at not being included and got quiet for almost twenty whole minutes while she nosed around the basement. She spoke up again when Maria moved her stuff to the dryer and Emily was about to do the same.

“What’s in here?” Jessica asked. A dim light came from beneath a closet door. There did not appear to be a lock on the door. Jessica tugged on it, but it was jammed.

“Can I help?” Emily asked.

a dorm body“No thank you, muscles.” Jessica still sounded miffed. She yanked, and the door popped open. A body fell face down to the laundry room floor. Jessica screamed, and Maria and Emily joined her for a second.

The Elect, the beginning, post 6 of 8: Given Notice

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Friday after supper, Emily and Maria came back from the dining hall and stepped right into the beginning of the Daughter of the Amazon meeting. Both had forgotten.

“Emily. Glad you could make it,” Connie drew them in. Emily glanced at the women and thought fast. There were nine angry, forgettable faces around Connie’s calm exterior. Connie, number ten, collated papers. Mindy, who made it eleven, looked at Emily with puppy-dog eyes that said she needed to go out. One last woman, who made it an even dozen, stared back at Emily with the biggest, darkest, most piercing eyes Emily had ever seen. Emily guessed the woman had some African heritage, but light skinned like an Arab or North African. And those eyes penetrated.ac amazons 1

Fortunately, Maria managed to think fast. “We just came by to say sorry we couldn’t make the first meeting. Library calls.” Maria wiggled her glasses and took the papers Connie held out.

“Things should lighten up after the first couple of weeks,” Emily added, not wanting Maria to be the only liar. They turned toward the door and just got outside before that Arab-looking woman caught them.

“Elect,” she said, and Emily stopped still. The woman spoke directly to her. “You are a called one.”

Maria looked up and saw a frown form on Emily’s face. “That is not for public consumption,” Emily said.

The young woman looked down and then looked away. “I am sorry. My grandmother says I am a seer like her, but I am just learning. I did not mean to speak out of turn.”

“That’s all right,” Maria jumped in and Emily wondered what kind of discipline might be exerted at home to cause the girl to apologize and turn her head away like that. “I’m Maria and this is Emily, of course.”

The young woman looked up and smiled. “I’m Amina. Amina Yousef. Yes, my family moved here from Morocco when I was just a baby.”

a n campus 3“I didn’t ask the question yet,” Emily said, and Amina lost her smile and looked away again.

Maria wrinkled her nose at Emily but talked to Amina. “So, you are going to be the Sybil of the group?” The others looked at her. “I read,” she defended herself. “Every Amazon tribe has a Sybil, a sort of seer-shaman type person.”

“Oh, no.” Amina shook her head. “I won’t be staying with this group. They are not real Amazons. Not like you, Emily.”

Emily did not know how to take that. “Not all Amazons were elect.”

“But the queen was, always. I am sure. These women are not real Amazons. They just hate men.”

“See?” Emily turned on Maria, hoping to get off the topic of being an elect.

“I should be getting back.” Amina turned again to the door.

“Hey, how did you know?” Emily had to ask for a rational explanation.

a student cent 1“You shine so brightly.” That was all Emily was going to get.

After Amina disappeared behind the door and Emily and Maria turned toward the campus center, Maria asked. “So do you think you should wear more make-up against the shine?” Emily had no idea where that quip came from so Maria explained. “Jessica isn’t here, so I said it for her.” Emily nodded, and Maria waited until they got to the campus center door before she asked the real question. “So what is a called one? What did she mean, elect?”

“Something to do with destiny,” Emily said, and then she had to explain what little she knew.

The Elect, the beginning, post 5 of 8: ROTC

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The ROTC freshman class was designed to weed out the ranks. The sophomore class had fifteen and the upper class had just twelve juniors and seniors combined. The freshmen class had twenty-three.

Weeding out the ranks was one of Captain Driver’s innovations. Emily had not met Captain Driver yet, but she spent two weeks in the summer at a kind of boot camp. Thus the short hair. Yes, she put a red streak in it after camp, but that would go when her hair got cut again. Meanwhile, she heard that Captain Driver could be hard but fair. An expert at readiness training, he served a tour with the 82nd Airborne Division in his youth. She also heard he was not a fan of women in the ranks, but she would deal with that if it came up.

Emily did ROTC the last two years in high school, so she knew the drill. She still played soccer then, but had given up on most other sports. She felt an attraction instead to the military and knew she could be good at it. Whether it went further than a couple years of ROTC at the university remained to be seen. She honestly felt interested in nursing.ac rotc 3

Getting into formation in that big, echo-filled gymnasium was not a breeze, but not too bad for a first day. Emily landed in the front row, of course, with the only other woman, Karyn. The class had twenty-one young men, but the odds were worse than biology. More than likely, half would not return for their sophomore year. They stood at attention while Captain Driver introduced his hard, no-nonsense attitude, and then introduced his staff. “Our senior representative is Lieutenant Terrence Williams who most of you will know as tight end for our very successful football team, and our junior is Sergeant Carl Baker. You will take their orders like you take mine. Is that clear?”

“Sir, yes sir.”

Emily stole a glance at the big tight end. He stared right at her while Carl kept his eyes on Karyn. Unfortunately, the captain caught her eye movement, like he just waited for one of the women to mess up.

“Soldier!” He shouted and came right up to her face. Actually, he looked down at her, as most of the people there would. “Is there something about my officers I should know?”

“Sir, no sir.”

The captain waved to the two men and they stepped up while he never turned his eyes from staring down at his captive. Emily kept her eyes straight-ahead, as she should, and only saw Williams and Baker move into her peripheral vision. They all towered over her and all had to be over six feet. Lieutenant Williams alone had to be six-three or bigger.

ac rotc karyn“You are a little girl.” Captain Driver frowned at her. He had to choose his words so carefully. She stood five-six which might not exactly be small for a woman, though not exactly big, either. Karyn stood more like five-ten, and was big besides—not fat, but built more like an athlete than a ballerina.

“You would not even make a tiny, little blip on a radar screen,” the captain went on and lifted his hand to pinch his finger in her sight so she could see how small she was. “You need to listen real good to this. You will receive no special treatment in this command. You will maintain discipline at all times. You will receive no special favors for being a little blip on the radar screen so do not ask for any. You will keep up with the men at all times and in all levels or you will be out. Is that clear?”

“Sir, yes sir.”

Captain Driver shifted his eyes at last to look at Karyn. Emily felt the relief from the pressure but wondered briefly if there might be a hole in the top of her head. “And is that clear to you soldier?”

“Sir, yes sir.” Karyn’s answer came out clear and crisp. She practiced that all summer.

“Well, in that case you two can be our color guard today.” He backed up and the others backed up with him. “Fall out and fetch the flags.” He looked toward the end of the room. Emily ran to the American flag. Karen got the regimental flag, which was just the university flag with ROTC attached. Carl stepped out from the group.

“Right here.” He pointed to the place beside him. “Hustle, hustle.” The girls ran and fortunately neither tripped nor touched their flags to the ground. That may have been what the officers looked for, but the girls were careful and held their flags out at the correct angle as they had been taught over the summer, so Captain Driver had no reason to complain.

Lieutenant Williams brought the company to attention to salute the flags while Carl played a recording of a very slow and drawn out version of the Star Spangled Banner. When the song finished, Captain Driver made the girls remain in place, the flags at a thirty-degree angle, while the rest of the company stood at ease.ac rotc flag

“Lieutenant Williams and Sergeant Baker will remain behind. You two need to hold those flags until told to stop. The rest of you men follow me.” The captain jogged out of the building and the twenty-one sort of bunched up at the door but eventually made it outside. Once they left, Terrence and Carl got out two folding chairs, a card table and a deck of cards. Carl also got the soft drinks. They ignored the girls and passed only quiet whispers between them.

After about five more minutes, Karyn wanted to complain. Her arms were not built to hold steady like that for so long. The flag had not been especially heavy at first but it grew heavier by the second. She finally dared a whisper.

“You all right?”

Emily thought about it. She had gotten herself into a place, mentally, where she hardly felt the weight. She supposed it could be something like a meditative trance. She did not know she could do that, exactly, but as with many things lately, she could look back at high school and see where the seeds had been planted.

“Fine,” she said. “For now.” She did not want Karyn to feel bad if she started to feel the strain.

“I bet you can hold it a long time.”

“What?”

“I heard you took out two men with knives.”

Emily shouted and turned her head. “What?” Who had not heard? She snapped back to attention, but too late.

“One demerit,” Lieutenant Williams said with a click of his tongue.

“Permission to speak, sir.” Karyn spoke right up.

“Granted.” The Lieutenant said as he laid down a card.

“I should get the demerit, sir. I provoked her.”

Carl reached out to the Lieutenant and shook his head. Lieutenant Williams spoke. “Okay, no demerits, only don’t let it happen again.”

ac rotc emily 1“Permission to speak, sir.” Karyn had something more to say.

“What?” The word sounded sharp.

“Where has the rest of the company been taken?”

Lieutenant Williams smiled to himself while Carl spoke. “They have gone to the obstacle course to practice. Don’t worry, you will get a chance at the time trials.”

“Of course, you won’t have the practice so it will be hard for you to do well, but I can’t help that,” Lieutenant Williams said. His smile suggested that he thought the girls not doing well was a good idea.

“Permission to speak freely, sir.” Emily felt the urge to counter that smile.

“What?” The word sounded curious.

“I’ll set the course record, sir.”

Carl laughed, and so did Lieutenant Williams. Then Lieutenant Williams raised an eyebrow, wondering if she might do that very thing.

An hour later, when the troops returned, Karyn had long since given up and sat quietly on the bench. She had put her flag back and taken her demerits with pride. They said she about beat the record. Emily, of course, remained in place at attention, her flag held at just the right angle. Captain Driver looked dumbfounded. He had to call Emily twice to get her attention and on the second call, Lieutenant Williams started to slap her. Emily caught and stopped the man’s hand cold with her own hand. Only one hand remained on the flag, but it never wavered.ac rotc wiliams 1

“Are we done now?” she asked, which did not come out sounding very military, but she only got one reaction from the captain.

“We are done.”

Emily put her flag back, went into the women’s locker room, showered, changed, and walked slowly back to her room. Her arms ached all the way through her shoulders, down her back to her feet. She had a lot to think about. Just exactly what all might be involved in being one of the elect?

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Note: If you missed the first posts in this story, are starting late, or have just discovered the work, the first 4 posts are an easy find. Look under recent posts and you will find parts 1, 2, 3, and 4 listed as clickable links. Happy reading

The Elect, the beginning, post 4 of 8: It’s All About Biology

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“Hello neighbor.”

Emily looked up as Maria sat down beside her. Maria lived in the next room over in the dorm with Gloria Sanchez who liked to play dance music at two in the morning. All things considered, Emily decided Jessica might not be such a bad roommate.

“Where’s Jessica?” Maria spoke of the devil.

“Probably in nail painting 101. I think she is majoring in football players.”

Maria smiled. “I’m majoring in biology and thinking about medical school. I did AP Bio in high school, but I hear this class is a bitch.” She wiggled her glasses and got out her laptop.

“Honors Bio. I’m thinking about nursing.” Emily had never associated the name Maria with the word nerd before.ab lecture hall 2

Maria shook her head. “Why nurse when you can doctor?”

“Doctoring doesn’t pay these days. Haven’t you heard? All of the money is in nursing.” Emily sat up when a woman came into the room and placed a soft briefcase on the front table. Emily had been slouching and decided she ought to consider her first impression. “I thought Professor Hilde was a man.” She ran her hand once through her short black hair.

“He is. He’s over there.” Maria pointed and Emily saw an old man with metal forearm crutches who dragged his feet to a chair where he could sit, comfortably. “The instructor is Morgan Granger, Hilde’s teaching assistant. I heard about her. She is hell frozen over.”

“That makes my day.” Emily could not avoid the sarcasm and that time she did not feel the least bit guilty about it.

“You could beat her up, maybe?” Emily looked and saw Maria staring at her. “I heard. Jessica.” Maria did not have to say more. Emily rolled her eyes and wondered who else Jessica told.

“All right people, listen up.” Ms Granger spoke up and paced a little while the auditorium style room quieted. There had to be a hundred students in that class. When she had everyone’s attention, she turned and smiled for the group. It looked to Emily like an unnatural occurrence on the woman’s face and Emily feared it might injure the woman. “I look forward to the day when I get to put a big, fat “F” on a third of your final grade reports.”

“Morgan,” Professor Hilde coughed and the woman took a few steps in his direction, which brought her back to the center of the room.

“If you are serious about biology and do the work, there is no reason you should not pass this course. The truth is every year about a third of the students in freshman biology do not belong here and end up majoring in Art History or something else. I recommend first of all that you consider this. You have until the end of next week to alter your course schedule.” She waved the paper in her hand, which appeared to be the class roster. “After that, it will be too late.” That smile flashed again across that face, but this time Emily thought she saw a bit of evil glee in it.

ab lecture hall 1“Ready or not,” she whispered and began to slouch again.

“Yes,” the woman said and looked right at Emily. She glanced at the paper in her hand and came right back to Emily. “Please stand up.” Emily got up slowly and pulled her shirt down in the process. She looked around the room to see all eyes on her before she looked back at the woman up front. “Your name?”

“Emily Hudson.” Emily could not help the rise in her voice at the end of her name. It reflected her question as to why this woman decided to pick on her, but the woman made a joke of it at Emily’s expense.

“You don’t sound too certain about that.” Some of the room snickered at the old joke. “So tell me, Emily. Why are you here?”

Something rebellious and stubborn rose up in Emily and she responded sharply. “I am a biology major. I am going into nursing. And I am here to learn what you have to teach.” She did not say, “if anything,” but it was strongly implied. Ms Granger clearly did not like the answer. The room fell completely silent except for a brief guffaw from Professor Hilde, which he quickly stifled as he covered his mouth.

Ms Granger picked up a pen and made a quick note on her sheet before she spoke again. “I will teach plenty. The learning it is up to you.” Emily started to sit down but paused when the woman spoke again. “Emily Hudson.” The woman looked right at her before she let her eyes wander around the room. “I heard. I may call on your services if any of these students start acting up or get out of line.” Emily felt stunned to stillness. Everyone looked at her again and a few of them grinned. She wondered who had not heard. “You can sit down.” Ms Granger finished and pulled a stack of papers out of her briefcase.

Emily sat and thought, so much for making a good first impression.

“The syllabus,” Ms Granger announced and began to pass them out.

As soon as the class ended, Emily found two girls at her elbow. They had a flyer. She vaguely ab lecture hall 6recognized them from the dorm and thought they might have the room down at the end of the hall. “Mindy?” That sounded right. Mindy was supposed to be some whiz-kid genius.

“And Connie,” Connie said. “We wanted to invite you to our group. We are starting a club and we think you would be a great member.” Mindy nodded when Connie looked at her. Emily remembered when she met Mindy. She thought of Mindy as the shy and quiet type, a bit of a wallflower. Connie apparently came prepared to make up for it with an annoying, assertive personality.

“You really need to come,” Connie went on. “We are going to meet Friday evening in the downstairs lounge in the dorm. If we get a good turnout, we already have plans to apply for room time in the campus center.” She stuffed a piece of paper in Emily’s hand and added an afterthought for a Maria. “You can come too.” She turned to Mindy. “Come on.” As a parting word Connie said, “See you there.”

Maria leaned in, already peeking when Emily unwrinkled the paper. The group called themselves the Daughters of the Amazon. Maria took the paper and read as they walked. “Daughters of the Amazon are like-minded sisters who are willing to stand up and fight for fairness, justice, and the opportunity for all women to achieve greatness and success in this world ruled by men. We stand against the patriarchic thinking that dominates our culture and keeps women oppressed…” Emily did not hear much more. Something itched in the back of her mind, but out of respect, she waited until they reached the outside walk and Maria finished reading.

“The problem is, I don’t hate men,” Emily said. At that point, she had said nothing to anyone about being one of the elect, whatever that meant. Detective Schromer’s attitude suggested that it should not necessarily be public knowledge. But if what the detective said was true, about her being elected to fight, Emily imagined being mixed up with an Amazon group might not be the best idea.

“I didn’t read anything about hating men,” Maria responded honestly, but Emily stopped walking until she remembered what troubled her. She had an appointment to see her academic advisor after class. She said as much and turned back toward the science building steps but stopped again as a young man ran up.

a science 2“Hey, Maria.” The guy had no eyes for Emily.

Maria made the introduction. “Owen, Emily. Emily, Owen.”

“Hi,” Owen said the obligatory word before his eyes went right back to Maria. “Coffee?”

“Chai latte,” Maria responded and turned again to Emily. “Owen is a sophomore. We both have Doctor Zimmer as advisor.”

“Zimmer?”

“Bio-engineering,” Owen said. “Though I really should be with Hilde. Bio-chemistry.”

“Owen is looking at medical school as well.”

“I need to go,” Emily said and felt glad to see that Maria did not hate men either. “I need to go see my advisor. I got Swenson, the department head.”

“Luck,” Maria said, but Owen said nothing and had already turned Maria toward the student center.

By the time Emily got back up to the second floor offices, she felt anxious about being late. She did not read the signs well and opened a door without knocking. She found a young man rifling through some books on the shelf.

“Can I help you?” He turned to face her. Neither said a word for a good, long pause. The view was enough. Emily had to shake herself awake.

“Oh, I’m looking for Ms. Swenson’s office.”

The young man smiled and Emily felt warm all over. “Next door,” he said.ac pierce 1

“Sorry to interrupt,” Emily responded, though she could not get her feet to move.

“No problem. I’m just waiting for Doctor Zimmer. I’m Pierce Davis. I’m his TA.”

A graduate student, Emily thought. “I’m Emily Hudson, the freshman who is easily lost.”

“I could help you find your way.” Pierce hardly masked any of the innuendo in that statement. Emily felt her face redden at her thoughts when an older man barged rudely into the room.

“What is this?”

“She came here looking for Professor Swenson’s office,” Pierce spoke up for her.

“Next door. Get out.” Doctor Zimmer went beyond rude. Emily did not argue. She backed out but stole one more glance at Pierce as she did. His face seemed to apologize and she hoped hers said, “That’s okay. Lovely to meet you.” She closed the door and paused to think, “I mean it was wonderful meeting you.”

After a deep breath or two she knocked on the next door and only opened it when she heard the words, “Come in.” She sat quietly as the words continued. “Emily Hudson. You are late. I was beginning to wonder if you were coming.”

“Yes. I apologize. I went next door by mistake. I talked with Pierce, er, Mister Davis.” Emily fought it, but she could not avoid thinking Emily Davis, and then she went further to think Pierce and Emily Davis. She refused, however, to imagine names for the children.

Ms. Swenson stared at her. “You and half the women on campus. Take my advice and avoid him. I am your advisor, you know.” Emily just rolled her eyes as if to say it was not like that, even though it was ac swensons office 2exactly like that. “So tell me about Biology 101.”

Emily opened her eyes wide and sat up straight. “I did not make a good first impression.”

“I heard.”

God! Emily wondered how news could travel so fast around campus. “Maybe I should change to Art History and take biology in the spring with you?”

“Not by my advice.” Ms. Swenson looked down at Emily’s file. “I’ll admit that Morgan Granger can be hard, unbending and pulls no punches, but you can learn a lot from her.” Emily sighed and spent the next five minutes hearing all about how she had to stick with what she had and do her best. Then she got dismissed.

************************

Be sure and return next Monday (T, W, and Th) for the second half of The Elect, the beginning episode. If you miss a post, you can always find it on the side of the blog under the heading “recent posts”. In fact, you can wait until Thursday (F, Sat, or Sun) if you like and read all 4 posts together in one sitting. It is up to you.

After this first episode, all 22 of the regular episodes (chapters in this serialized novel) will be posted in 4 posts (M, T, W and Th) over a single week. Again, you are welcome to wait until Thursday (F, Sat, or Sun) if you want to read the entire episode in one sitting.

Thus far, Emily has been told she is an elect and show some signs of unnatural abilities, but she is not sure what being an elect means. She has to puzzle out what she can. She may not have much time. Something is happening in and around the university campus that has Detective Lisa worried…